The L.A. Times music blog

Lana Del Rey remixed by Odd Future offshoot the Internet

October 27, 2011 | 8:53
am

For various and vague reasons, the self-proclaimed gangster Nancy Sinatra, Lana Del Rey, has been labeled "controversial." It's something that Odd Future DJ/producer Syd the Kyd can inevitably identify with. Granted, Syd has never been accused of creating a contrived alter-ego and aesthetic, but she has DJed enough Rick Ross tracks to understand the notion of irony. Plus, her group has been boycotted at festivals. (Syd wins for now.)

So it's fitting that Syd's new group, called the Internet, would remix "Blue Jeans," one of the two songs that first propelled the 24-year-old Del Rey to international attention. Flipping the druggy Mazzy Star vibe of the original version into a gauzy, almost screwed crawl, the Internet suggests the omnivorous nature of the, uh, Internet. Pulling from Southern hip-hop, British electronic and ambient, an Atlanta- and Los Angeles-based producer remix a fellow instant phenomenon whom they've never met. And this is a perfectly normal phenomenon.

Of course, since the former Lizzy Grant become the ersatz femme fatale Del Rey, she's earned more than her fair share of remixes, though the most common are for song-of-the-year candidate "Video Games," which includes reworkings from electronic producers Joy Orbison, Balam Acab, and Jamie Woon. All the tracks and original versions below. For all the criticism lobbed at her, the songs are good. It's hard not to like video games.